title: Nontuberculous mycobacteria from household plumbing of patients with nontuberculous mycobacteria disease.
abstract: To determine whether plumbing could be a source of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infection, during 2007-2009 I isolated NTM from samples from household water systems of NTM patients. Samples from 22/37 (59%) households and 109/394 (28%) total samples yielded NTM. Seventeen (46%) of the 37 households yielded ≥1 Mycobacterium spp. isolate of the same species as that found in the patient; in 7 of those households, the patient isolate and 1 plumbing isolate exhibited the same repetitive sequence-based PCR DNA fingerprint. Households with water heater temperatures ≤125 degrees C (≤50 degrees C) were significantly more likely to harbor NTM compared with households with hot water temperatures ≥130 degrees F (≥55 degrees C) (p = 0.0107). Although households with water from public or private water systems serving multiple households were more likely to have NTM (19/27, 70%) compared with households with a well providing water to only 1 household (5/12, 42%), that difference was not significant (p = 0.1532).
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA 24061-0406, USA. jofiii@vt.edu
authors.forename: Joseph O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Falkinham
mesh_terms: D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D016172:DNA Fingerprinting / Q000379:methods; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000382:microbiology*; D006801:Humans; D009165:Mycobacterium Infections, Nontuberculous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D009170:Nontuberculous Mycobacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D012091:Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014881:Water Supply